The Do’s and Don’ts for Cooking Kale

People tell me that they’ve tried to like kale, but just never managed to make it taste good…. and many say that their kale chips just don’t turn out well or they don’t like the taste of raw kale.

In honor of National Kale Day tomorrow (October 1, 2014), here’s the Do’s and Don’ts of Kale Cookery so you can make totally tasty, crisp, sweet, or finger lickin’ good kale while avoiding cooking snafus.

Kale Do’s

Can’t get your kale chips right? Follow this easy kale chip recipe, for perfect chips every time. Remove the stem for the crispiest chips and reserve the stems to make you own homemade chicken broth. Do dry kale well after you wash it and leave enough space in between the leaves on the baking sheet to crisp well with no soggy spots.

If you’ve struggled with kale in the past, do start with an easy kale recipe, like this delicious kale pesto from “50 Shades of Kale”, that I made in my Blendtec blender: Take 1 cup fresh basil leaves, 2 cups kale leaves, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup walnuts and a pinch of salt. Blend until smooth.

Do “sear” your kale in a hot skillet with high smoke point oil like canola, light olive oil, or coconut oil. Just heat a large skillet over high heat, add 1 tablespoon of oil along with washed dry kale. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and press down with a lid or spatula. Cook 30 seconds and flip the kale. Cook another 30 seconds and serve.

Do thinly slice kale to add it into any comfort food recipe. Add the sliced/finely chopped kale during the last 5 minutes of cooking or to the casserole filling before you bake. Toss into fried rice, enchilada filling, taco meat, meatball mixtures, burger meat, and marinara sauce before you heat it.

Do store your kale in a loose plastic or paper bag in your refrigerator’s crisper drawer. Fresh farmer’s market kale will keep in your fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Delicious kale pesto made in a #Blendtec: http://bit.ly/1eFlBCo — Click to tweet »

Kale Don’ts

Don’t boil kale, is releases more of the strong smelling sulfur compounds and makes the leaves slimy while damaging most of the nutrients. To preserve nutrients, don’t cook kale for more than 10 minutes over high heat (in a skillet or oven at 400°F). Limit baking kale to 25 to 30 minutes at 350°F.

Don’t prewash kale before using, it can wilt the leaves quickly.

Don’t toss out wilted kale — simply slice it up, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Wilted kale makes a tasty tender salad compared to the crisper leaves. If you want to make a raw kale salad, thinly slice kale, toss with olive oil and salt, and store in the fridge over night to tenderize, then serve.